Page 11 of Stealthy Seduction (SEAL Team Blackout Charlie #5)
All eyes turned to him as he stepped around the table, and Izzy felt her heart stop as he positioned himself at her side. The move wasn’t what she’d call protective, but it was an unmistakable show of support.
“And splitting up the team right now would be a terrible idea,” he continued with confidence.
“We know more about…” He paused before going on in a vague fashion, “Our target than we ever have before. We’re close—closer than we’ve been to any major breakthrough since this whole thing started.
What happened to Izzy tonight was terrible, yet it provides even more clues. ”
Dante nodded slowly from his position at the tech station. “He’s got a point. The pattern of those donations, the Syria connection—it’s all starting to come together.”
“We should be pressing our advantage,” Hudson added, his gaze moving between Con and the rest of the team before settling back on Izzy’s face.
Her breath caught in her throat. He looked at her like…
Like she belonged here.
“Besides,” Hudson continued, “if we send Izzy away now, we lose our primary source of information about tonight’s events.”
A murmur rippled around the table as the special operatives agreed with him.
“What did you see?” Dante asked, his fingers already hovering over his keyboard. “We need descriptions, timeframes, anything you can remember.”
Izzy took a shaky breath, forcing herself to relive those horrible moments. Before she spoke a word, Hudson took her hand and drew her to a seat.
She knit her fingers together under the table and began.
“Two men approached Drysdale as we were leaving the restaurant. They looked like they were in their thirties, both wearing dark hoodies.” The scene played out in her mind’s eye, and she tried not to cringe away from the details. “One was taller—maybe six feet.”
“Skinny? Can you guess his weight?” Dante typed in what she was saying.
She shook her head. “He had an athletic build. The other was shorter, stockier and with broad shoulders. They moved like…” She paused, searching for the right words. “Like soldiers. I’ve seen soldiers in Syria. These men were the same—their movements were coordinated. Professional.”
“Race?” Dante’s tone was gentle but focused.
“Both appeared to be white. The taller one had dark hair visible under his hood, and he was clean-shaven. The shorter one wore a baseball cap underneath the hood—I couldn’t see much of his face.
” She wrapped her arms around herself, the memory making her skin crawl.
“They asked Drysdale for the time, like they were just random people on the street. But the way they positioned themselves, the way they moved… I know now it was tactical.”
“How long from approach to the shooting?” Con asked.
“Maybe thirty seconds. The tall one distracted him with the question while the shorter one moved to his blind spot. The gun…” Izzy’s voice wavered slightly. “It looked like a small pistol. Dark colored. A single shot to the chest, then they disappeared into the crowd like they’d never been there.”
Dante was typing furiously. “I can pull street cam footage from that area, cross-reference with the timeline. I’m sure the cops already have most of the work done for us. I’ll tap their systems. But if the shooters cased the location beforehand, we might get clearer shots of their faces.”
“It happened right outside the main entrance.”
Beside her, Steele’s jaw flexed as if he was chewing over what she told them. On the surface, his expression gave nothing away. But when she glanced down at his arm, the tendons were popping from the fist he made. Every vein stood out in stark relief against his skin.
“I can help.” The words were out before she could second-guess them. “I’m good at research. Really good. I know how to dig into financial records, trace patterns and follow paper trails that most people would miss.”
She looked directly at Hudson as she spoke, needing him to understand that she wasn’t asking for charity or protection. She was offering to be an asset.
“You need someone who can think like a journalist, who knows how to find the stories that people try to bury.”
Hudson’s lips curved in the slightest hint of a smile. Approval and something warmer that made her pulse quicken glimmered in his eyes.
“Let her stay,” he said simply.
The room fell quiet again as all eyes turned to Con, waiting for his decision. Izzy held her breath, her gaze moving between the commanding officer and Hudson, trying to read the silent communication passing between them.
Finally, Con’s shoulders relaxed slightly, and he gave a reluctant nod.
“Against my better judgment, you can stay. But you follow orders without question, and if the situation becomes too dangerous, you go where we tell you to go. No arguments.”
Relief flooded through Izzy so completely that her knees may have buckled if she hadn’t already been sitting. “Thank you.”
She was staying. She was part of this now, for better or worse.
And somehow, with Hudson looking at her like that, it felt like it was going to be much, much better.